Vice President of Engineering

Insight Global; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Insight Global's client, a leading defense and aerospace manufacturing organization, seeks a Vice President of Engineering to lead the engineering function through its next growth phase. This hands-on executive will set technical direction, standards, and governance to deliver scalable, mission-ready solutions.

The VP will oversee Quality, Manufacturing, Design, and Systems Engineering, driving excellence, capacity, and collaboration across multiple programs and teams to meet demanding customer

Qualifications

• Minimum 15 years of progressive engineering experience in complex physical products or engineered systems.
• Minimum 7 years in engineering leadership with growing scope and responsibility.
• 3–5 years direct experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide executive leadership and accountability across Quality, Manufacturing, Production, Container Architecture, Design Engineering, Test Engineering, and Systems Engineering functions.
• Lead, mentor, and develop engineering managers, technical leads, senior engineers, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Establish vision, standards, governance processes, design review criteria, and quality gates for engineering activities.
• Define processes that ensure manufacturability, quality, compliance, and customer satisfaction.
• Develop review frameworks and decision authorities across the product lifecycle.

Skills

Executive leadership

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic planning

Quality governance

Mentoring

Communication

Program oversight

Industry knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Engineering discipline

Job description

Industry: Defense, Aerospace, Space, Energy, Advanced Technology, Industrial Manufacturing

Employment Type: Full-Time

Overview

Our client is a rapidly growing supply chain solutions and manufacturing organization specializing in the design, engineering, and production of custom shipping containers and engineered packaging solutions for defense, aerospace, space, naval, energy, advanced technology, and industrial customers.

They are seeking an experienced Vice President of Engineering to lead the company's engineering organization through its next phase of growth. This is a hands-on executive leadership opportunity for a technically strong engineering leader who combines manufacturing expertise, organizational leadership, strategic vision, and the ability to build and scale high-performing engineering teams.

As the company's principal engineering authority, the VP of Engineering will establish technical direction, engineering standards, quality expectations, review processes, and organizational capabilities necessary to support increasing customer demand while delivering scalable, manufacturable, and mission-ready solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide executive leadership, technical direction, and operational accountability across Quality, Manufacturing, Production, Container Architecture, Design Engineering, Test Engineering, and Systems Engineering functions.
• Lead, mentor, develop, and hold accountable engineering managers, technical leads, senior engineers, and multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Establish engineering vision, technical standards, policies, governance processes, design review criteria, quality gates, and approval authorities.
• Define engineering processes that ensure technical rigor, manufacturability, quality, compliance, and customer satisfaction.
• Develop review frameworks that determine required deliverables, evaluation criteria, escalation paths, and decision-making authority throughout the product lifecycle.
• Ensure seamless collaboration between engineering, manufacturing, production, quality, and testing teams to deliver integrated customer solutions.
• Oversee multiple concurrent customer programs, engineering builds, and product development efforts from initial customer engagement through design, manufacturing, testing, delivery, and post-delivery improvements.
• Drive engineering excellence in technical quality, design maturity, manufacturing readiness, schedule adherence, cost control, and risk management.
• Build engineering capability and capacity to support company growth, operational scalability, and long‑term business objectives.
• Partner with executive leadership to align engineering strategy with company goals and customer requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Structural Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• Minimum 15 years of progressive engineering experience supporting complex physical products, fabricated structures, engineered platforms, industrial equipment, transportation systems, or integrated engineered systems.
• Minimum 7 years of engineering leadership experience with increasing organizational responsibility.
• At least 3-5 years of direct experience leading, developing, mentoring, and managing multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Demonstrated success overseeing multiple concurrent engineering programs, manufactured products, or complex physical‑system builds.
• Proven experience managing technical quality, design maturity, manufacturing readiness, cost, schedule, risk, and delivery performance.
• Strong executive communication, decision‑making, and cross‑functional leadership skills.
• Experience implementing engineering standards, governance processes, quality systems, and product development frameworks.
• Track record of building, scaling, and improving engineering organizations in a manufacturing or product‑development environment.